SXSW schedule: Initial impressions

Published Feb. 16, 2010 at 12:57 p.m.

WEDNESDAY

Popular music blog Brooklyn Vegan's showcase at Club DeVille on Wednesday is bound to be overrun with bearded dudes on hand to see Sam Beam-ish Australians The Middle East and Dead Oceans indie folksters Bowerbirds and Califone.

To counter that showcase (and probably drown it out) will be a bunch of metal bands, including Zoroaster, next door on the Mohawk patio. The Continental Club will likewise be packed for the Sirius/XM/Sin City Social Club showcase that includes Austin's Mother Truckers and Raul Malo.

If you're looking for an even more local showcase, check out the City of Austin showcase at the Ghost Room for Carrie Rodriguez, Danny Malone and Monarchs, among others.

Everyone will be friends at Friends on St. Patrick’s Day with a showcase of Irish bands, featuring Autumn Owls, The Coronas, Dark Room Notes, Villagers, And So I Watch You From Afar and General Fiasco. Maybe they will pass out buttons reading “Kiss Me, I’m Unsigned.”

Other highlights include the Scottish Arts Council showcase at the Parish with We Were Promised Jetpacks and the always fun Frightened Rabbit, and the Warp Records showcase at the Phoenix with !!!.

THURSDAY

On Thursday, Ozomatli at Auditorium Shores should be a fun free show, as will be the solid-from-beginning-to-end showcase at the Beauty Bar Ballroom with The Whigs, The Low Anthem, Deer Tick and Titus Andronicus.

Antone’s hosts the Americana Music Association showcase featuring Austinite Hayes Carll, who has received tons of good press for his album “Trouble in Mind” and a little local group called Court Yard Hounds. You may know them better as two-of-three-Dixie-Chicks, Martie Maguire and Emily Robinson.

Actress/singer/enchantress Zooey Deschanel returns to the festival as part of She and Him during the Merge showcase, which will also include Wye Oak and Lou Barlow, who couldn't stop gushing about White Denim the last time he was in town...

Speaking of White Denim, they'll be at Emo's Annex (which is more than just a tent on Red River) with other locals Centro-Matic and Brazos. The big draws Thursday will probably be the Mohawk Patio for jj, Holy F**k, GZA and The xx and Stubb's, which will have Drive By Truckers, Band of Horses and Broken Social Scene, which should feature a crowd full of beards and college brohams who were turned on to sweet, sweet indie music by their older bros.

Kenny Dorham’s Backyard will feature a couple of Grammy winners -- Ruben Ramos & The Mexican Revolution and Little Joe y La Familia...

FRIDAY

The Friday lineup at Antone's -- anchored by experimental weirdos Liars, locals Shearwater, Quasi and Basia Bulat -- seems all about pushing the boundaries of what pop and rock music can be in a new decade...

What a murderer's row of R&B-laced rock at Austin Music Hall on Friday; Smokey freaking Robinson, Sharon Jones, Raphael Saadiq, Black Joe Lewis and Mayer Hawthorne. Wow. We started sweating just reading that. Let’s hope the venue lives up to the bill.

The line for the showcase at the Central Presbyterian Church on Friday may reach Interstate 35. Band of Horses (inexplicably) leads off the showcase, which will allow fans to jet by 10 p.m. to catch other acts. Of course, Brits The xx at the end of the night are an enticing group for that space too. That show will have many in church for the first time in ages.

Japan Night is always a wildly popular draw, and even if fans aren’t too familiar with the names on the bill (we share their confusion), Friday night at the Elysium will likely be something worth writing home about.

If Les Savy Fav's involved, we’re interested; so there's good odds of seeing us at Galaxy Room's backyard, where Tim Harrington and company will hold court (and trees, and...) with The Antlers, Suckers and Local Natives.

Friday at Headhunters will be metal to the bone, sponsored by labels 20 Buck Spin and Profound Lore, and, a natural fit … Brooklyn Vegan. Um, ok. Start your hipster-metal jokes now.

For all your off-kilter hip-hop needs, The Independent has you covered Friday, with a reunited Anti-Pop Consortium, Daedelus and Austin DJ Richard Henry topping the list. Seems you can't land on a music blog these days without seeing Miike Snow's name, so it make sense the Swede would wind up at a high-profile spot like Mohawk's patio on Friday, with The Cool Kids (great live, dodgy on record), SALEM and Digital Leather lending support.

Kenny Dorham’s continues its solid Tex-Max-flavored bookings with locals David Garza, Del Castillo and a Texas Tornados reunion.

All the above shows are great, but they may have trouble competing with Red Eyed Fly's alt-country/rock lineup of Lucero, Deer Tick, Justin Townes Earle and Glossary, a lineup that should win the night going away.

SATURDAY

An important if imperfect ingredient to the SXSW experience is the wander-around factor, where you throw a carefully crafted schedule to the wind and just bar hop to discover new bands.

Saturday looks like a good day for that, with lots of OK-to-good shows all over but nothing that's knocking me over at present (though that could change). But there are a few showcases that I'll keep in reserve just in case the wandering attempt turns sour.

First is Continental Club's Austin-tilted bill featuring Shapes Have Fangs, Diagonals and The Ugly Beats. If you're a fan of twisted power pop (hand raised) then this isn't to be missed.

The back-story is great, but the reviews have been mixed on Death, the 1970s punk/metal band that rose like a Phoenix from obscurity least year. So their headlining spot at Mohawk's Patio should make for a strong turnout that will be aided by the presence of the outstanding Surfer Blood earlier in the night.

Red 7 will compete for top Saturday honors, with F---ed Up, J Mascis, Rival Schools and Titus Andronicus filling four of the night's six spots. There's no way that bill runs on schedule, which would be fine by most since only 45 minutes each for those acts seems like barely a taste.

SUNDAY

Usually, by Sunday night people are walking zombies, barely interested in hearing another note of live music for at least a month. But those bold enough to make it out Sunday are rewarded, as SXSW ends with a big bang. The fest will pay homage to some rock greats as it closes with tongue positioned softly in cheek at Emo's with cover bands Jazzus Lizard, Led Zeppelin 2, The Promise Breakers, Paradise Titty.

NEW VENUES*

- Amsterdam Cafe
- Club 1808 and Club 1808 Patio
- Barbarella (formerly Plush)
- The Galaxy Rom (formerly the Radio Room)
- The Ghost Room (formerly The Gingerman)
- Jaime’s
- Lustre Pearl
- Klub Krucial (formerly all sorts of things)
- Mi Casa Cantina (503 E 6th St)
- Beauty Bar Ballroom (401 Sabine St) is seemingly a new (temporary?) arm doing business at the Palm Door.
- The Phoenix (formerly Pangea)
- Rusty Spurs
- Encore (formerly Spiro’s)
- Valhalla (formerly Room 710)
- Billboard.com Bungalow (formerly Habana)
(* Some of these venues were official SXSW venues as their previous incarnation.)

FREE SHOWS @ AUDITORIUM SHORES

THURSDAY...- Bajofondo, 6:45 p.m. - Ozomatli, 8 p.m.

FRIDAY
- Cracker, 6 p.m.
- The BoDeans, 6:45 p.m.
- Cheap Trick, 8 p.m.

SATURDAY
- Kimya Dawson, 3 p.m.
- Dawes, 4 p.m.
- Justin Townes Earle, 5 p.m.
- Deer Tick, 6 p.m.
- Lucero, 7 p.m.
- She & Him, 8 p.m.

INTERESTING SHOWCASE TITLE SPONSORS
- Antone's on Saturday is co-branded as GSD&M Idea City showcase
- Continental Club on Saturday is a Texas Monthly showcase
- Academy of Contemporary Music @ University of Central Oklahoma at Soho Lounge on Saturday

Michael Corcoran, Joe Gross, Peter Mongillo, Matthew Odam and Chad Swiatecki contributed to this post.

Back | Read more at Austin Music Source